Premier League referee learns to walk again after being paralysed by rare condition

Long-serving Premier League referee has opened up on his battle with a rare neurological condition. Following the diagnosis and a lengthy hospital stay, the former official, 65, has been forced to learn to walk again.

Rennie took charge of hundreds of top-flight matches, spending more than a decade as a official after taking charge of his first match in the competition in 1997. He also officiated European club games and EFL matches - including games in the and predecessor the UEFA Cup - before retiring in 2008.

On a recent holiday in Turkey, though, he suffered pain in his back. The former ref ended up spending several months in hospital after doctors finally got to the bottom of the issue, and has begun his long road to recovery.

"I thought I had just slept funny on a sun lounger, I was hoping to go paragliding but because of my backache I couldn't go," Rennie told . "By the end of the holiday I couldn't sleep a wink from the pain, and by the time I got home I could barely walk."

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He added: "I spent a month laid on my back and another four months sitting in bed. "They kept me in hospital until February, they found a nodule pushing on my spine and it was a rare neurological condition so it's not something they can operate on."

Rennie, who was once considered the fittest referee in the Premier League if not the , has been using a wheelchair to get around while - as he puts it - "retraining" his legs. He can stand with a frame attached to the chair, but has also been working on a number of exercises as he works on his glutes and other areas.

The former ref is set to begin a new role as a university chancellor at Sheffield Hallam University - a role he had been close to starting before being admitted to hospital. He has opened up on the support he has received from family and hospital staff while explaining what's next in his bid to walk again.

"I'm aiming to be the best I can physically," he added. "No one has told me I won't walk again, but even if someone did say that I want to be able to say I did everything I could to try.

"Lots of people are in wheelchairs, but it doesn't define them. It has made me resilient and forceful and I will never give up - I'm not on my own, there is a village helping me.

"I recognise how brittle things are in life now. I don't know if I am going to walk fully, but I know what I need to do to try and you must never give up hope."

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